Citizens, foundation establish Levelland endowment

Published: Friday, February 01, 2008

HENRI BRICKEY

The citizens of Hockley County have joined forces with the Lubbock Area Foundation to create an endowment for their community.

Citizens raised $120,000 to establish the Levelland Area Endowment, the first affiliate endowment of the Lubbock Area Foundation. As a result of their success, the Lubbock Area Foundation will award a matching grant of $50,000, bringing the total raised for the Levelland Area Endowment to more than $170,000.

The Levelland Area Endowment will help provide annual grants to the Levelland community to be used in a wide range of needs: such as meal delivery, home repair programs to help senior citizens stay in their homes longer, programs for children and youth, new technology for schools and economic development in the area.

"We believe that the future of Levelland and Hockley County has been improved because we have given the people who love their hometown a way to meet current needs as well as the future needs that our children and grandchildren will be concerned with," Joey Pierce, chairman of the Levelland Area Endowment Steering Committee, said in a written statement. "We have a long history of working together to take care of our own needs and to make Levelland a better place to live and raise our families. The Levelland Area Endowment is just one more way that we can assure the well-being of our community far beyond our own lifetimes."

In May 2006, a group of Levelland citizens began a partnership with the Lubbock Area Foundation with the hopes of creating the Levelland endowment.

The Lubbock Area Foundation administers 143 separate endowments with more than $21 million in assets.

For more information on the Levelland Area Endowment or to learn more about the Lubbock Area Foundation, call (806) 762-8061 or log onto www. lubbockareafoundation.org.